The Ys series keeps on rolling, as Nihon Falcom delves into its back catalog to bring us Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana on consoles for the first time. Memoire’s key differentiator is offering an upscaled version for modern TVs, but it also provides a few new features from the remake released 20 years ago that originally came out in 1989 as Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. It’s come a long way, and over the years, it’s continued to offer undeniably classic RPG action.
In his travels, Adol Christin lands on the continent of Felghana, which happens to be where the town of Redmont is located. That is, the hometown of his burly sailing partner, Dogi. Though Adol is a first-time visitor, he quickly makes himself at home. For Adol, that means getting to work on fixing the problems the people there are facing. In this case, the local monsters are getting out of control, and dealing with monsters just so happens to be Adol’s specialty.
This entry in the Ys universe is primarily about action. Combat is fairly simple, as you mostly rely on combos through repeatedly hitting the single attack button, but taking down enemies still feels satisfying. Jumping attacks do more damage and have the chance to stun, so that’s something else to play around with. Spells also add another element to your arsenal, and the bonus system encourages you to be bolder. You gather bonuses and healing items as you defeat enemies, including an experience bonus with every hit, and they take a while to reset. As you pick up other temporary boosts along the way — a little extra attack here and some more defense there — often, the best way forward is to proceed straight ahead. There is a little sense of pushing your luck as you explore new areas as you’re not aware of when that next healing boost will pop up, and if you die, you return to your last save, so whether to head back or push on isn’t always an easy decision. Even when I needed to beef up Adol through leveling or picking up better equipment, I still didn’t need to grind much, which is nice. Though leveling up might make bosses easier, you still have to earn those wins through action, so developing your skill is just as important as improving your character.
Those imposing bosses make for excellent fights. They’re challenging for sure (though you can lower the difficulty if you’re struggling), and usually, it took me a few tries before I could decipher the enemy’s weak points and plan an approach that might actually work. Even once I learned the “trick” to beating them, I still had to execute well, dodging and attacking at the correct times to succeed. They push you to dig deep into Adol’s repertoire, putting all of his spells and techniques to use. There aren’t any healing items in the game, and though you can heal a modest amount with your boost ability, you can’t rely too much on it. You better get used to timing jumps properly, as that’s your only evasive maneuver. You don’t need to be perfect, but you better be pretty good. Overall, combat is brilliant, and the continual escalation of challenges made it fun to work my way through.
Speaking of jumps, though Ys Memoire: Oath of Felghana has moved from Ys III’s 2D roots to 3D environments, you can still see that origin in the level design, and that’s not a bad thing. There are points where it feels like you’re playing a more traditional Metroidvania game, especially with some of the platforming elements. Eventually gaining the double jump opens up new challenges, namely figuring out how to get across large chasms. These platforming elements weren’t my favorite, though at least they are relatively forgiving. Often, falling into the giant gaps is necessary to advance anyway, as that’s where some of the most important items lay. The dungeon design is top-notch, especially toward the end, offering up some fun puzzles that also usually revolve around jumping.
The story didn’t take me to any new heights, but it’s made more engaging because of Nihon Falcom’s high standard of quality. Each character has a personal journey, and they all come to Adol for help at some point. It’s just typical things like collecting leaves or saving the odd son from being trapped in the mine, but I’d bonded with the old lady, so I didn’t mind helping her out. Though the main story begins with culling the local monster population, you eventually learn there’s a connection between that crisis, the tyrannical king, and the brother of Adol’s sort-of love interest going missing. As is often the case, the town’s struggles are only the beginning of an oncoming apocalypse that could threaten the entire world. Though you’ve heard all of that before, the sheer charm found in those characters through the writing and voice acting go a long way to make them all worth saving.
As for the new additions to Oath in Felghana, while I appreciated them, they aren’t game-changing. The most significant addition is a new intro movie, which serves as a fine introduction to the adventures of Adol Christin, especially for those picking up an Ys game for the first time. He’s not exactly a deep character, but it at least gives you a sense of what he’s about. The new hand-drawn-style portraits are nice and more fitting for modern audiences, though you can switch to the older style if you prefer. The original, more rounded look is a throwback to 2000s video game art, but there’s something off-putting about it compared to the new look. Adol now speaks occasionally with his own voice actor, which brings the presentation more in line with recent Ys entries. I don’t think its presence hurts anything, but the short interjections, such as “uh, actually,” don’t exactly add much either. In the case of silent protagonists, it’s more amusing and charming to me to imagine that they literally don’t speak at all, and Adol loses a bit of mystique with his weak lines. Finally, if Oath in Felghana isn’t difficult enough and you want a ridiculous challenge, you can turn on turbo mode and bump the speed up to 2x, and godspeed if you do.
Oath in Felghana has never sounded better, and with a classic soundtrack and quality voice acting, you’re in for a treat. The actors’ approaches range from heartfelt to campy, and they all feel fitting for the characters they portray. The soundtrack takes you on a journey from metal to jaunty adventure sounds to classical heavily choral pieces that sometimes take liberal inspiration from Beethoven and other famous composers that put you in the mood to tear through a screen of monsters. Oath in Felghana also looks excellent on the Switch. Though it looks nice on a bigger screen, it’s even sharper in handheld mode. I still wasn’t a fan of older Nihon Falcom character sprites, but the animation is so wonderful when they’re in action that I’d forget about my hangups. The bosses are especially impressive, and they look like they’re about to mess up your world (and they are).
While the additions to Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana are slight, they make this already excellent action RPG marginally more enticing. For those who have played previous versions, I wouldn’t say the changes make this edition essential beyond the convenience of being available on modern platforms. But for everyone else, Oath in Felghana is a classic that deserves to be played, and it’s now more accessible than ever. So, take a pointer from Adol and go have yourself an adventure!
